Thursday, June 18, 2009

Two chickpea salads

I’ve recently made two chickpea salads, taken from Orangette. In the coming months, you’ll probably see me refer to a lot of her recipes, because she writes one of my favourite blogs EVER, and I’m now going through the archives and bookmarking many of her entries for future use.

Note that for these salads, I used 19-oz cans of chickpeas, not the 15-oz cans recommended by Orangette (the 19-oz cans are the ones I’ve always seen in the store; things might be different in Seattle). On the second picture, the chickpeas are served alongside roasted chicken and a potato salad (boiled potatoes, minced shallot, a little mayo, Dijon mustard, salt and pepper to taste).

Chickpea salad with Lemon and ParmesanThis was truly the easiest salad ever, and it was very good. It makes for a great side dish, and leftovers are a tasty lunch.

Warm Chickpea Salad with Carrots and Shallots
I made this recipe, changing it a bit to fit what I had on hand (I used raspberry vinegar instead of red wine vinegar). It was so good that it had me fantasizing about it for a week. It is also delicious served cold the next day.

In a large bowl, combine the shallot, garlic, vinegar, salt and pepper. Set aside for 10 minutes to allow the shallots and garlic to mellow.

Add the carrots, the parsley and the olive oil to the bowl.

In a medium saucepan over high heat, bring some water to a boil (you should have enough to cover the chickpeas once you add them to the hot water, but the precise quantity is not important). Add the chickpeas and blanch them a few minutes, then drain.

Add the chickpeas to the bowl and toss gently. Serve immediately, while still warm.